There were a number of venomous, ironic phrases, then the dispute ceased and silence was restored. Petra, thus kept awake, sank into her own thoughts; again footfalls were heard in the corridor, this time light and rapid. Then came the rasping of the shutter-bolt of a balcony that was being opened cautiously.
"One of them has got up," thought Petra. "What can the fuss be now?"
In a few minutes the voice of the landlady was heard shouting imperiously from her room:
"Irene! … Irene!"
"Well?"
"Come in from the balcony."
"And why do I got to come in?" replied a harsh voice in rough, ill-pronounced accents.
"Because you must … That's why."
"Why, what am I doing in the balcony?"
"That's something you know better than I."